by Literata
Gryphon’s Moon Coven is having our fall equinox and full moon ritual on Saturday Sept 21st. If you can’t join us for that, here is a suggested visualization exercise that you could use as the centerpiece of a personal ritual to observe the equinox.
Make yourself comfortable, so that you can rest your body and allow your awareness to expand into a space of imagination. Close your eyes, allow yourself to relax, and begin to visualize your body as an apple seed, a small bit of matter, resting gently on the earth. Imagine how the seed feels as it begins to soften under the rain and then open, gently unfurling tendrils of roots and leaves.
Let your first tiny root find its way into the earth, questing for nutrients and support, and follow its path as it begins to expand into a network of roots, tapping into the water of your soil and finding strength and support there. Let your roots extend as deeply as you would like, and draw up into yourself through those roots everything you need to continue your growth.
Leaving your roots strongly connected to the earth, let your awareness move towards those first small leaves that begin to unfold from the seed. These shoots also find nourishment all around them, from the air itself and from the light that they reach towards. Drink in the world above you, and feel yourself growing more shoots, opening more leaves, and extending upwards.
Experience how the shoots begin to strengthen, becoming a trunk and branches that allow you to expand into a beautiful canopy. As you become a full apple tree, drink in through your roots and your leaves all the blessings around you, and then allow yourself to express those blessings by developing buds, and flowers, until you are an apple tree in full bloom.
Observe how the blooms begin to ripen into fruit. Feel how the fruit grows heavy, full of everything you have taken in, and imagine your fruits with all of your senses. You may find that your tree keeps producing new blossoms at the same time, so that you are a wonder, a tree of all seasons.
When you feel you have fully explored your visualization, turn your attention back to the ground, where your trunk emerges and your roots descend. Remember that you began here, as a small seed, barely visible. And look! An apple that you grew has fallen back to the earth. Within it are seeds full of new potential.
When you are ready, express your gratitude to the universe and the Powers and the apple trees for giving you this experience, and know that you can come back to this visualization any time you need to. Gently draw your awareness back out of the roots and branches that have formed, bringing yourself back to the shape of your physical body. If you want, you can end by eating an apple or drinking apple juice or apple cider.